Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Two under two-and-a-half

Hi, my name is Amory and my husband's name is Martin, and we have a two-and-a-half-year-old; and a one-and-a-half-year-old. WOW! How did that happen?!

Here's an update on our amazing girls' stats!!!

Ava

You are amazing! You are finally potty trained to the max. Sleep in big girl underwear and have zero accidents during the day (we are working on the nighttime). You are in a big girl bed since you just figured out how to climb out of yours just a few weeks ago! The transition was a lot easier than I had expected! And I want to thank Emma for that, because when you were trying to abuse your freedom-- you'd just innocently open the door softy and shut it softy. :)

You talk so much! Show and vocalize great concern for others and others' feelings. My favorites are you say "thank you," "you're welcome," "sorry," etc. without any prompting. And you say "bless you" when someone sneezes-- one of my favorites. Another one of my favorites is when I ask Emma something and you follow with "you okay, Emma?! You okay???" You are shy around others, but aren't shy to give hugs when prompted to. You LOVE your grandparents and great-grandparents. You and your Nana have a great bond too. Well, both your Papas (Papa Ouchie-wah-wah and Papa Abuelo), you have great bonds with too.

We are working on clean-up time and not physically fighting with your sister.


Emma

You are amazing too!!! You have grown so much in the past six months. In the past month!!!! You say words, but it's still in baby worded talk. You have mastered "MINE" and "NO!" though. You follow and do everything Ava does. You try and put your shoes on when we are leaving. It's just amazing what you do!!!

You LOVE animals. You stop dead in your tracks when you see another dog when we're getting into the car. You love your Lucy and kitty. You love your Papas and have grown closer to your Nana. You don't like it when I leave you places.... like you are going through separate anxiety again at a later age. You run and you are fast!!! You really understood Christmas-- for what a one-and-a-half-year-old can understand. You point out Santa and say it over and over again. And you pulled tiny little pieces of wrapping paper and handed them off on every, single present. It was fun to watch. :)

We are working on not pulling hair and saying "please" and thank you." :)
Photo credit: Elevenorchids (They do AMAZING work. Check them out at Elevenorchids.com)

Friday, December 24, 2010

Feliz Navidad!

Merry Christmas/Feliz Navidad (threw that in because the girls speak pequeno (sp?) Espanol)!!! And a Happy New Year!!!!

Monday, December 20, 2010

32 weeks is a big deal

I started this blog to give me a place to remember things about my girls in case I forget to write something down in one of the girls' baby books, which in fact-- I have not written in since I started this blog! :) So I didn't start at the beginning of 'my' motherhood.

The start of my motherhood started when I found out I was pregnant-- just three months shy of getting married (which is great- what we wanted!!). I found out I was pregnant just days after my birthday and went along my pregnancy without any morning sickness or nausea (thank you Mom and Grandma!!!). My pregnancy with Ava was pretty awesome... awesome up until my blood pressure starting to climb the charts at 28-29 weeks. That's when I was referred to the high risk special doctor, perinatologist, Dr. Maier, at Kaiser in Walnut Creek. (He was wonderful!) At almost 30 weeks, I had an awful migraine at work that would not go away. I went home to check my blood pressure with hopes of returning to work right away, but that wasn't the case. The high risk nurse who received my frantic call about my blood pressure told me to go to Labor and Delivery right away!

I was admitted. It was extremely high. I was so scared. I didn't know what was going on and I couldn't wrap my head around it. I spent the night in an actual delivery room on a very uncomfortable delivery chair/bed thinking at anytime they might induce me and take my baby out. The whole week my blood pressure was extremely high and the team in the Labor and Delivery couldn't find the right meds to keep it down. I stayed in the hospital for an entire week which was the week leading up to my baby shower.

I was determined to get out of the hospital and was not going to have a baby shower in the hospital. And I didn't! The staff found the right mix of medicine to keep my blood pressure relatively low (not normal low, but around 140/90-95 and I was put on bed rest and was not allowed to get up from my bed or couch unless it was to shower or use the restroom. But a baby shower.. my first baby shower-- I attended and had a great time with the Mayers who graciously hosted it.

After a week of being on best rest, I had two NST appointments which the first I was released from but the second- not so lucky. The second appointment was on a Friday and my blood pressure was high again (probably around 160/100) and I was admitted. Through that stay, I was required to pee in a 'hat' and keep it so they could test the protein in my urine (which I did throughout the pregnancy once I was labeled 'high risk').

Saturday came and went... and Sunday came. I had had two shots of steriods during this stay to help strengthen the baby's lungs, with the first one on Friday and the second on Saturday. Thank God for those. Sunday afternoon came....

And the words came out of the doctors' mouth. The protein in my urine was extremely high and they were going to have to get her out now. Now. NOW?! I'm not ready. I'm not ready for labor. I haven't even attended the lamaza class or the newborn care class!!!!!!!!! I wasn't ready and I was so scared. So scared. I didn't even realize what was happening. It was so surreal.

Well they induced me around noon I'm guessing since I was eating lunch at the time they told me about the induction. So a couple of naps and hours go by.... I watch the Next Food Network Star for a couple of hours... waiting to feel an awful contraction... and the doctor comes in. He informs me that my liver levels and blood palates numbers are going down because of the pitocin (induces labor) and they need to do an emergency C-section... RIGHT NOW!

What? Now I was scared. I was already scared that I was going to have a baby born at 32 weeks, but didn't completely wrap my mind around it. But now I'm going to have surgery. I've never had surgery let alone a tooth pulled.

Ava came out screaming! (Thank God again for those steroid shots!) She was rushed to the incubator where the doctors examined her and held her up for two seconds and put her in another incubator and took her away. I was sewed up and brought into recovery... recovered well. I was wheeled into my room for the night and wouldn't see Ava until the next afternoon.

Here is the first time I got to hold my baby girl, one day old.
The journey of '32 weeks is a big deal' continues....

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Mine

Mine mine mine mine mine mine mine minemine minemineminemineminemine!!!!!!!!

Sorry had to get that out because that's all I hear nowadays. From both of them.

Emma just says it to say it. Everything is hers. Wait, everything is Ava's. Now-- actually it's mommies and daddies. :) Especially our phones and the remote control.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Santa Claus is coming.. to town!

Sooooooo... the girls met Santa.

And yeah. They were cool with him until it was time to sit on his lap for picture time! :) When we approached the line, it was empty and Santa was standing at the front and was very soft spoken and gentle with his movements towards or away from the girls. Ava gave a soft "Hi Santa" and Emma stayed put in my arms!

Then it was picture time....

You are welcome for this laugh! Classic photo. Some parents are butt-hurt about these photos, but I think it's hilarious! Hilarious because they were okay with him until they were put on his lap for 2.3 seconds. We will laugh about this every year when we take it out of the Christmas boxes. :) My poor babies!!!!!!

The girls were even featured in a few local news media outlets, including: Danville Express, San Ramon Express and TriValley Views.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Perfect mommies

I follow a great blog, OMG Mom who I was introduced by one of my old coworkers. I stalk this blog because it makes me laugh. You should stalk it too. She's hilarious and real.

Today or the other day, she talked about perfect mommies and how people talk about how perfect their lives are when in fact, aren't they lying?? We all know these people. They've always been this way.

I am not perfect. No one is. And no one needs to post things on the Internet trying to reflect that their lives are perfect. It shows through like a sore thumb!!!!!!!!! Right?!

These mommy liars are the ones that say there child doesn't cry in public. Sleeps through the night at one week (okay maybe this happens, but really?), etc.

Our girls cry in public. Well of course they do! It's embarrassing! I remember specifically the other day in Safeway, Ava pulled a Rolo candy bar off of the shelf. And I said "no!" And she cried. Then she started to hit Emma. While they are both in the shopping cart with the pretend car in the front.. I could not access them. And I wasn't going to leave the line. And I wasn't going to buy the candy bar because I just bought one for them the other day (Ava justified it by telling me she's been peeing on the potty and I said ok).

Well this sweet soul of a mother of a teenager boy was ahead of us being checked out. I just let them cry and hit each other because they were stuck in between the candy and the check-out belt wall thingy. That teenager was starring at me!!!!! He had no clue why they were crying and really has no clue about being a father or about kids or whatever--right?! In my mind I was thinking-- oh my gosh, she must think I'm an awful mother because she's letting her kids cry and hit each other and scream. But no. After she got her receipt, she gave me a sweet smile and in her eyes told me I was doing the right thing with a reassuring look.

There needs to be more mothers like this. Because it happens. And when they are young like our girls are, you are raising them to be respectful humans. It's the groundwork. Right?

Cheers to screaming babies! Next time this happens, and you see it, give the mother or father a reassuring smile. They need it more than you know!

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

A WOO HOO!

Well! We've made it! We've made it to no longer preparing and washing bottles for Emma AND no more pull-ups for Ava!!!!!!!!!!

A WOO HOO!

One of the happiest days of my life was today at lunch when I realized that these two things no longer exist in my world!

Ava has been doing great peeing on the potty (poop in another thing for some reason, she stopped doing it on the potty when we put the 'big girl' underwear on her). Three things I learned: 1) Thick underwear only makes them think they are wearing diapers, you have to put the big girl underwear on only (daddy figured this one out!); 2) you have to have a variety of candy for them to choose one, including ALL of their faves; 3) peer pressure is very important when potty training. If one does it, they all do it. This was proven to me when we were visiting one of my friends' house with a little girl the same age who was introduced to the potty, but not yet in the pull-ups. Well she peed three times on that potty while we were there! Same with my niece-- everytime she went on the potty, Ava HAD to too!

I'm hoping Emma will be quick to learn! As you know, she joins the party everytime we hit the bathroom and gets very mad if we leave her with daddy in her high chair at a restaurant. :)

Emma was a piece of cake to take off the bottle, which we did about 2 months ago. The nighttime bottle I kept, because, well because, I thought she was soothed by it and loved it. That ended this past weekend and there was no fuss. What a good girl! :)

What is weird, is that I miss hitting the baby section of Target. I miss shopping for baby foods and I miss shopping and thumbing through my coupons for the best deal on wipes and diapers!!! I am so bizarre, I know it! :) And no, no pictures of my girl on the potty to show on the page. They are still on the digital camera waiting to be downloaded. :)

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!!! I hope everyone has a great day with beautiful weather and delicious food!

Beautiful California weather mid-November.

Monday, November 22, 2010

Gotta have a variety!

Ava has now been sans Pull-Ups as of Wednesday and is doing great!!!!! Upon pick-up Tuesday night, Paola, our lovely day care provider, informed me that Ava had been wearing 'big girl underwear' all day without any accidents. So Wednesday was the day! The first two days weren't the funniest, and I *almost* put her back in the diapers/Pull-Ups, but I didn't.

Wednesday was the worst of it. Seriously. We were running around shopping for Christmas presents and our last stop was Costco. She peed right on the toy isle. Nice. I was embarassed and husband was d-o-n-e. It was only her first day, poor little girl. So we continue running the girl to the store potty, changing her clothes in the parking lot, and sitting in dirty restrooms waiting for her to go 'pee-pee in tha pottay!'

One word of advice for those that are training.... given up on training for a while... or are going to start soon. GET A VARIETY OF CANDY!!!! M&M's will work for a while, lollipops will work but will make a messy baby! Reese's are the fave right now, but weren't doing it on Saturday. So my advice to all you mommies and daddies-- get a variety of candy! Skittles, M&M's, Whoopers, Reese's, Tootsie rolls, etc. because your child will get bored with the same old sticker/M&M dance. Trust me. :)

Ava did and I accommodated her resisting and now she's having less accidents by day. WOO HOO! Let's keep this going little girl and hopefully Miss Emma will be a piece of cake.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Holiday cards already?!

Who else is thinking about holiday cards?? I am! I love receiving holiday cards and I love sending them out! I get all excited about the response that I will receive from my family and friends about the girls' cute picture I've enclosed. It's also an extra special feeling when you go to a person's home and see your holiday card on their fridge or mantel. Does anyone else feel this way?

My favorite holiday cards are the ones with pictures on them. In the past I have only ordered regular 3x5 pictures and put them inside a regular Christmas card. But this year I'm going to try and do something new. Life before kids, I can remember I ordered a bunch of photos and my husband and I with a cute little holiday border from Shutterfly. It worked and even my in-laws have that photo framed somewhere in their house!

There are many places to order your holiday cards, and in the past I've used Shutterfly, as I said before. With the options that Shutterfly offers, you can put a couple of different pictures on one card rather just one photo. And this is what I plan to do this year! Since from one of my previous posts about 'the picture perfect photo,' my children will not sit together and look in the same direction and smile.

If you are now thinking about your holiday photos (since Thanksgiving is JUST a week away!), I have given you the best gift yet-- a couple of links to Shutterfly's Web site for Christmas cards (for my fave, click here); holiday photos cards (for my fave, click here); a link for calendars (I like desk calendars); Hanukkah cards (my fave); and wall art (my fave). (Note: click on each highlighted group of text/wording to go to their Web site.)

And if you have never uploaded photos to Shutterfly, click here to get started! When you open a free account, you get 50 free photos just for signing up and other fabulous free services. I love that I can order photos at home before work and then pick them up on the same day at Target, Walgreens or CVS.

Well I better get started, as I hope to get my cards out before Dec. 2. What do you think about this example, 'Naughty or Nice?'

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Slippers, tutus and princess shoes

So I think we're about to embark on the "I only want to wear my princess dress-up gear and slippers to day care" round with Ava.

Is this when it's suppose to start? I mean, I love that she wants to wear her tutu around the house when she dances. Or that she LOVES her Princess Belle shoes and wears them constantly.

But really? Really at 7:58 a.m. when we should of left at 7:55 a.m., you want to throw a tantrum on the floor because I won't let you wear your kitty slippers to day care??!!!"

Is this happening to anyone else? Or when did this start to happen? Help!!!! All advice will be taken and used. :) And how do you keep your composer without yelling at the poor little princess, because I sure did fail at that one!

And little sweet Emma, just sits and drinks her milk and holds her duckie (lovie) and waits by the door while all of this is going on. Gotta love 16 month old girls with older sisters. Because I know she'll be acting up like that in no time!

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

pink saur-saur and tink

Happy *WAY belated* trick-or-treating!

I hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween! I'm sure everyone, like me, LOVES to look at everyone's Halloween costumes every year. In fact, I LOVE to watch all of the TV daytime shows to see everyone's costumes. Since I did have to a doctor's appointment for Emma (plastic surgeon for her flat head-- I know, plastic surgeon?! Yes! And I wasted a lotta gas and $20 for the co-pay to be told she will be fine with her semi-flat head), as I was saying.... I missed all of the daytime TV shows because of the doctor's appointment. I did catch half of Kelly Ripa's show which was pretty cute.

Anyways! Ava was a pink saur-saur (dinosaur) and Emma was Tinkerbell. We trick-or-treated a day earlier at Blackhawk Plaza which is located in Danville and is very fru-fru. The girls and I were lucky enough to meet up with some of my friends from high school and their adorable kids!
 

Halloween evening, a whole slew of people showed up at our house for some pizza and we all headed out together. At one point, I think we had 11 kids with us! It was a blast! If you ever have a chance to go treat-or-treating with a group of kids- DO IT. They love it!
Here's the most of the crew we trick-or-treated with! Leah the kitty, Gavin the dinosaur, Ava the pink dinosaur, Emma as Tink, Corsten as Batman and Ayla as #2 of the three ladybugs! (Missing: our wonderful neighbors Nia, Layla and Gabriel and baby Mia as #3 ladybug.)

Enjoy! Now off to try and plan Thanksgiving dinner!

Friday, October 29, 2010

'Picture perfect' photos

So, you know those families that dress their kids to the T's with their cute matching/semi-matching holiday shirts. Hair is perfect. Nice camera in tow. ?? Well that's not me or my kids. I tried! I tried! I tried to get them to smile together widely at my camera earlier this week at the pumpkin patch. But it didn't work. And that's okay! I don't need to send just one picture in my holiday cards-- I need to send two! :) Two because I didn't get one shot of my girls smiling together on top of the hay barrels with pumpkins in their hands, proudly showing their matching T's. :)

But they are cute. I took some very cute pictures of my girls at the pumpkin patch! And a lot of them show their true personality which is probably way better than some professional, matchy-matchy, big smiles in the same direction, photo!

Enjoy!

 











Stats!

Every other blog I read does an age/month milestone and I'm going to copy them. Since this blog, which I hope people enjoy and read, is for my memory. Since after birthing two children, I have lost! :)

Ava, when people ask me how old you are, I immediately say two! because you are, in fact, two years old (27 months). Adjusted age you are just over two years old (25 months) since for those of you don't know, she was born at 32 weeks and the docs go by her "adjusted age."

Ava, you are amazing! AMAZING! You sing songs in the car when we are driving. Your faves are the Beatles and Lady Gaga. You love to sing the 'alright!' song (Here Comes the Sun) and Miss Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance." You can do a full summer salt (summersalt?? sp?). You like to jump and have "dance parties" where you strip all of your clothes off and run in circles around the room. You say a huge amount of words. You ask a lot of questions. You share great concern for Emma when she is crying or when she gets hurt. But you don't hesitate to shove her out of your way if you want what she has. You love to talk to her when you first wake up in the morning. Your favorite foods are 'eggies' and toast in the morning and you love a big glass of milk. You love pizza and have associated 'daddy pizza.' You are the little mommy of the house and repeat everything I say when disciplining your sister! We love you so much and we are so proud of you that you have overcome obstacles since the first minute you were born. You are our sunshine!


Emma! Emma you are now 15 months and you are mobile! You have started to get the hang of running/walking fast. You now don't like to be held unless you are tired. You take priviledge in walking from our house to the car without assistance. You are the sweetest little sister Ava could of ever asked for. You are, in fact, her little shadow. When it's time to go 'pee pee on tha pottay' you are the first one in the bathroom sitting on the little stool. You sign 'more' when you want more of something and you can say 'kittttttiiieeee,' 'ump ump' (pumpkin), mama, dada, 'sssssss' (Lucy) and more. I think 'ump kin' is our favorite. You have started sleeping through the night! WOO HOO!! You sleep with your butt up in the air and not with many blankets. You have taken to your ducky lovey that Auntie Kirsten bought for you (the cow that Ava carries around is from Auntie Kirsten too!) You aren't much of a sweets girl, but you love french fries, pizza, peaches, peas and a good, warm glass of milk! We love you Emma. You are a blessing that at first, was in disguise, but we cannot imagine our lives without you.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Happy *almost* Halloween!

I was telling the girls last night, only a week until Halloween! I think I'm more excited than they are. Or anyone else! :)

Last year, we started a new tradition with our childrens' generation to go trick-or-treating with our family. Our family includes my brother and his family (including my beautiful niece and his MIL), my cousins' family (including her three beautiful kids that go to day care with my kids), my parents, and now this year my neighbor and her three beautiful kids and my nephew and his parents.

Let me tell you-- trick-or-treating by yourself has to be pretty boring. We had a blast last year! Ava was a leopard and Emma was a loaf of Wonderbread.

 Not the greatest picture, but I had to give you the full effect of Emma's costume. :)
My beautiful babies, Emma 3 months, and Ava 15 months.

What are your kids going to be for Halloweeen? Ava is going to be a 'ink anosaur' translation: pink dinosaur. And Emma is going to be Tinkerbell! YAY for free costumes!!!

So Happy Halloween week! To close, here's a click to Parents' Halloween Pumpkin Carving Stencils

Thursday, October 21, 2010

'du chu'


You should know that my husband is a HUGE Chicago Bears fan. No, he didn't grow up in the windy city. He's been a fan since they won the Superbowl in 1985-- am I correct, babe? Well he is continuing the tradition of being a Bears fan onto his daughters. Just shy of a 8 months ago or so, when Ava started talking, he wanted her to say "Go Bears!" in which she said, "du chu!" Now being a big 2-year-old girl, she can say "Go Bears!" with her little arms up straight in the air. It's precious. Emma follows along and can't yet say "Go Bears!" and maybe sometime soon before the season is over, she'll be able to say "du chu chu?!"



Ava: "Go Bears!"
"ROAR!" says Emma.
Two generations of Bears fans.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Gardening in October??

Here in the sunny state of CA in the Bay Area-- we have had summer-like weather. It's been lovely, but not when it's 100 degrees and you have two young ones!

Last weekend, the girls not only baked with Nana, but they also helped with gardening too! My mom had some plants to plant, which for the life of me-- I cannot remember!

Enjoy the pictures! And yes, the girls wore their princess skirts to their house and gardened in them. :) That's just how we rolllllllllllll!

Nana showing the girls what they were going to plant.
 Emma got a hold of ... squash?? 
 YAY! 
One is looking up! :) Beautiful- none of the less!
 Princess skirts for gardening-- it's the new thing. You didn't get the memo??

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

More baking with Nana

This past weekend the girls baked with Nana and with their cousin, Leah! The girls were donned with baker's hats, aprons and mini rolling pins! Check out the pictures! Aren't they precious?? And don't you want a chef's hat for yourself?! Although I did forget to get a picture of the final masterpieces which consisted of A LOT of blue and pink sprinkles, multi-colored little ball sprinkles and a fun, short-lived sugar rush!

 Chef Ava and Chef Leah!
It's hard being this cute!
Emma's little apron
 Checkin' out the goods that Nana bought!

Peace out!